By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia correspondent
OPERATIVES OF the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have dismantled a social media network distributing illicit substances packaged as imported Christmas cookies and snacks, arresting two masterminds in Lagos.
The syndicate, operated by Deji Adesanya and Olubiyi Majekodunmi, imported Canadian Loud, a potent strain of cannabis, alongside designer sachets resembling popular cookies and snacks to sell psychoactive substances in retail quantities, the agency stated.
Following intelligence on the group’s WhatsApp-based operations, NDLEA officers raided an apartment on Ojulari Street, Ikate area of Lekki on 22 November 2025. Agents recovered a significant number of the designer sachets and five kilograms of Loud from the suspects at the point of arrest.
In another Lagos operation on 27 November, officers apprehended 38-year-old Philip Ucheka as he received 110 pouches of Canadian Loud weighing 55.6 kilograms in the Ladipo area of Mushin. Three delivery vehicles were also seized during the arrest, according to NDLEA.
On the same day, 100 grams of Loud were intercepted in a teddy bear imported from Thailand at a Lagos courier company. The following day, 28 November, another logistics firm yielded 548 tramadol capsules hidden in bottles of Vitamin C and magnesium bound for the United Kingdom.
NDLEA officers also intercepted a large cache of prescription drugs in Oyo state on 29 November. Wasiu Kareem, 55, was arrested along Lagos–Ibadan Expressway with 8,000 ampoules of pentazocine injections, 590 bottles of codeine syrup, 1,500 Co-codamol pills, and 9,900 tramadol capsules.
A separate raid on 24 November at the Ipe Forest in Akoko South-East, Ondo State, led to the arrest of seven individuals, including John Ede, Ede Ndubuisi, Ikenna Abe, Eze Chukwuma, Maduabuchi Odo, Nnaji Chudubem, and Gorge Okowor. Authorities recovered 3,077 kilograms of skunk cannabis from the site.
Anthony Sylvester, 49, was stopped along Okene–Lokoja highway, Kogi State, on 26 November while transporting 649 kilograms of skunk in a truck.
On 28 November, NDLEA officers raided a warehouse at Ashipa, Seme border area of Badagry, Lagos, arresting 33-year-old Abubakar Shuaibu with 487 blocks of skunk weighing 243.5 kilograms.
In Kano, Tsalha Alasan, 47, was apprehended along Zaria-Kano Road on 24 November with 137 kilograms of skunk.
Three other suspects—Godspower Appeal, 50; Ernest Upong, 55; and Godday Chukwudi, 38 – were arrested on 26 November at Fanshanu village, Toro LGA, Bauchi State with 322 blocks of skunk weighing 209 kilograms. A black Toyota Highlander marked ABJ 533 EA used in transporting the drugs was recovered.
Further seizures included 210.15 kilograms of skunk recovered from John Ekojo, 51, along Abuja–Jos highway on 29 November.
A couple, Abdullahi Abubakar, 45, and Jamila Abdullahi, 35, were also detained along Abuja-Kaduna highway with 725 rounds of 7.62 mm live ammunition concealed in a sack of maize.
Awwal Sabiu, 20, was apprehended at Abuja–Kaduna tollgate on 28 November with 400 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition.
NDLEA commands across Nigeria continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitisation programmes in schools, worship centres, workplaces, and communities throughout the week.
Sessions included lectures at Government Junior Technical School, Kofar Kudu, Kano; Bright Eyes International School, Abakaliki, Ebonyi; dock workers and clearing agents at Tincan Port, Lagos; Legacy International College, Nsukka, Enugu; and Seatos School, Ikorodu, Lagos, the agency confirmed.
Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (rtd), Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, commended officers in Lagos, Ondo, Oyo, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, Seme, and Bauchi Commands for their operations.
He urged personnel nationwide to continue the balanced approach to drug control efforts, according to the agency’s media director, Femi Babafemi.
He noted that the series of arrests and seizures represent a coordinated effort by NDLEA to intercept illegal drugs, psychoactive substances, and live ammunition across multiple states, with operations spanning Lagos, Oyo, Ondo, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi, and Abuja.
